AQUA LAMINA

2012 Paris Market Lab Competition

Aqua lamina is a high performance building system that shapes a unique journey into the culinary process. The public is immersed in the digestive workings of an interior skin that both filters water and acts as a thermal regulator. A laminated system of water filtration bladders collects waste water from kitchens, bathrooms, and roof and filters it as it travels through the body of the building, meanwhile acting as a thermal mass which collects and distributes solar radiation and waste heat. Filtered water quenches a sidewalk garden where chefs or visitors pick fresh herbs before traveling upstairs to cook. Remaining water is sanitized for drinking below ground by uv lights, which illuminate a grotto-like dining room. The top floor kitchens serve as teaching spaces during the day and ancillary kitchens for smaller events. Here the central communal dining space also serves as an auditorium focused around the master chef kitchen below. As each stage of the water filtration process shapes a unique culinary experience, building system and program are symbiotically linked into a single living system.